Portable evaporative cooler



June 19, 1951 J. o. GEROW 2,557,276.

PORTABLE EVAPORATIVE COOLER Filed Feb. 25, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 vxxxx ATTD RN EYS June 19, 1951 J. o. GEROW ,5 5

PORTABLE EVAPORATIVE COOLER Filed Feb. 25, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VEN TOR.

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ATTD R N EYE Patented June 19, 1951 j i T D STATS 1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates generally to the class of liquid contact and distributing systems for air conditioning appliances, and more specifically to an improved portable evaporative cooler, for purifying and conditioning air, and especially designed as a self-contained appliance for use in dwellings, apartments, rooms in public buildings, automotive vehicles, and other places where desirable or necessary. The primary object of the invention is the provision 'of an electrically operated and portable appliance that may conveniently be plugged in or connected by an extension cord to a typical electrical outlet for moistening, dampening, or humidifying air currents and directing the conditioned air currents for uniform distribution in a room or other space.

The portable evaporative cooler of my invention includes a minimum number of parts that may with facility be manufactured with low cost of production, and the parts may be assembled or installed with convenience to provide a compactly arranged, efficient, and durable appliance that may be manually controlled or regulated, and operated with a minimum of expense.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will hereinafter be described, and more particularly set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a complete example of a physical embodiment of my invention wherein the parts are combined and arranged in accord with one mode I have devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention. It will however be understood that changes and alterations are contemplated and may be made in these exemplifying drawings and mechanical structures, within the scope of my claim, Without departing from the principles of the invention.

Figure l is a View in side elevation of a portable evaporative cooler in which my invention is physically embodied.

Figure 2 is a top plan view, on a smaller scale, of the appliance in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical central sectional view of the appliance.

Figure 4 is a horizontal detail sectional view through the motor casing with a motor therein.

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional View at line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and

Figure 6 is a detail horizontal sectional view through the rotary pump of the appliance.

In the preferred form of the invention illustrated in the drawings I utilize as a wide and substantial base a flat metallic cylindrical water container or tank I having an elevated bottom 2, and a lid or cover plate 3; and suitable means are employed for supplying water to the tank,

and for drainage when necessary.

Within the tank is mounted a central upright tubular column 4 that is rigidly attached, as by bolts 5 and nuts 6 to the bottom of the tank, and the lower end of the column is fashioned as a separate and elevated pump casing 7 forming a water chamber having an inlet from the water tank. The pump casing encloses a r0- tary water pump that is mounted on the lower end of an operating shaft 9, and the pump is adapted to supply water for evaporation to the filtering, porous, wall of an air chamber located above the tank as will be described.

The operating shaft 9, which is journaled in a lower bearing i0 extends upwardly through the tubular column 4, to the exterior of the tank, and an electric motor H, supported on brackets l2 mounted on the top of the tank, revolves the shaft.

The electric motor which is equipped with the usual extension cord or cable for plugging into a typical electrical outlet, is enclosed within a dome I3 havin an attaching flange and rigidly fastened at the center of the top of the tank over the open top of the tubular column; and a portion M of the motor shaft is journaled in bearings 5 at the apex of the dome.

The upwardly projecting end ill of the operating shaft above the dome is equipped with a horizontally disposed rotary fan blower it that is designed to distribute the conditioned air cur" rents after the air has been filtered and humidified.

In order to provide an air chamber around the closed dome and above the tank, an annular frame or vertically slotted housing 17 of circular shape is mounted on the top of the tank for retaining an annular porous filtering and evaporative pad l8 that is bound by an outer perforate wall or screen l9 and an inner screen of wire mesh, as 20, and an annular flange 2| rigid with the top surface of the tank aids in retaining the housing and evaporative pad in place.

The evaporative pad of suitable porous material is designed to wash, and filter, as well as humidify the air as the currents are induced from the atmosphere, through the porous wall, into the open-top air chamber surrounding the motor casing or dome, by operation of the fan blower I6.

The rotary fan blower IQ for distributing the purified and humidified air is located within an open frusto-conical fan-casing 22 having a horizontal crown plate 23, and this skeleton frame or open fan casing is supported on and attached to the housing I! of the evaporative pad, above the air conditioning chamber.

Multiple air deflectors, or blades 24 are mounted, and may be adjusted, on the frame 22, and if desired suitable means may be employed for adjusting these blades to vary the direction of the distributed air currents from the air chamher.

For dampening or constantly moistening the porous filter pad l8, water from the pump casing 7 in the bottom of the tubular column and tank, is forced by the enclosed water pump upwardly through a water outlet pipe 25, under control of a manually operated regulating valve 26 and its hand knob 27.

Pipe 25 communicates with an annular nozzle ring 28 having bottom perforations 2-9, and the annular nozzle is embedded in the pad for uniform distribution of the water throughout the entire area of the pad.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a portable air conditioning unit, the combination which comprises a base including a water tank, a vertically disposed motor mounted on the base, a cover over the motor also mounted on the base, an annular wall of porous absorbtive material mounted on the base, positioned around the motor and providing an open inner area surrounding the motor cover, the inner and outer surfaces of said annular wall of porous absorbtive material being covered with wire mesh, a hollow frustro-conical shaped frame carried from the base and positioned above the motor and the said annular wall, said frame having spaced horizontally disposed upwardly inclined baflles extended outwardly therefrom, a horizontally disposed fan in said frustro-conical shaped frame positioned to draw air in through the said porous annular wall and discharge the air through the said bafiies, a pump in the base, an extended shaft extended from the motor shaft for operating the pump and fan by the motor, an annular perforated pipe positioned in the upper end of the said annular wall of porous absorbtive material, and a pipe extended from the discharge of the pump to the said annular perforated pipe for carrying water discharged by the pump from the water tank in the base to the said porous annular wall.

JAMES O. GEROW.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,543,760 Fandrey June 30, 1925 2,054,541 Hettinger Sept. 15, 1936 2,137,905 Church NOV. 22, 1938 2,237,497 Munford Apr. 8, 1941 2,325,692 Maddox Aug. 3, 1943 2,377,836 Wollery June 5, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 603,641 Germany Oct. 5, 1934 

